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[Presidential Election Thread] All Hail the Liberty Rooster.

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In all seriousness, that seems to be where the GOP is going with this. I've definitely heard the "Poor people are all LAZY and can't control themselves" line before, but usually that's in reference to them having children. This is the first time I've seen the message "Hey poor people, don't have children! But also, don't use contraceptives! Hey, don't have abortions either!" Uhhhhh . . .

Vows of perpetual virginity for all poor people.

Or possibly that right-wingers have a problem with logic.

Poor people have no moral core. Their vows mean nothing. They need to be chemically neutered.

"Three generations of imbeciles is enough." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Now that was one heck of an American. My high school was named after him. Or well, I guess it still is, but I don't go there anymore.

I wonder what would happen if there was a major religious movement preaching fairness, kindness, acting towards others how you want them to act towards you, sharing, and condemning selfishness in the United States, wouldn't that be something

You know I was hearing a guy on NPR talk about how liberals are less open minded than conservatives (he was preaching "both sides are the same", more or less) in that, in surveys most conservatives believe in helping others but most liberals don't think conservatives have empathy for their fellow man and he used that as evidence of liberals having conservatives all wrong. I say that it's evidence that conservatives don't actually practice what they believe, or they are voting for people who are completely opposed to their own sets of morals without realizing it.

I wonder what would happen if there was a major religious movement preaching fairness, kindness, acting towards others how you want them to act towards you, sharing, and condemning selfishness in the United States

I wonder what would happen if there was a major religious movement preaching fairness, kindness, acting towards others how you want them to act towards you, sharing, and condemning selfishness in the United States

Mitt Romney would like everyone to know he's a gigantic dick. Some more.

"I must admit, I scratch my head at the capacity of the president to take four hours off on such a regular basis to go golfing," Romney told WLW Radio in Cincinnati, responding to a question about the president's hobbies. "I would think you could kind of suck it up for four years particularly when the American people are out of work."

When asked about vacations taken by the Obama family, who travel to the president's native Hawaii annually, Romney said his family would not use four or eight years in the White House to "see the world." Instead, the former Massachusetts governor said he would frequent Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountain Park of Frederick County, Maryland.

"I think one of the great resources that the president enjoys is Camp David," Romney said, after the host referenced a recent trip by Obama's eldest daughter Malia to Mexico. "I would anticipate if I were fortunate enough to become elected president that I'd be spending some time at Camp David, and my family and I would not be jetting around the world and using four years in office to see the world."

So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.

Once there was a day when a Presidential Candidate would not make such a ridiculous statement as "When I'm president I'll never travel or do any recreational activity" because the news would call them on it and they'd actually have to do it!

I wonder what would happen if there was a major religious movement preaching fairness, kindness, acting towards others how you want them to act towards you, sharing, and condemning selfishness in the United States, wouldn't that be something

Mitt Romney would like everyone to know he's a gigantic dick. Some more.

"I must admit, I scratch my head at the capacity of the president to take four hours off on such a regular basis to go golfing," Romney told WLW Radio in Cincinnati, responding to a question about the president's hobbies. "I would think you could kind of suck it up for four years particularly when the American people are out of work."

When asked about vacations taken by the Obama family, who travel to the president's native Hawaii annually, Romney said his family would not use four or eight years in the White House to "see the world." Instead, the former Massachusetts governor said he would frequent Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountain Park of Frederick County, Maryland.

"I think one of the great resources that the president enjoys is Camp David," Romney said, after the host referenced a recent trip by Obama's eldest daughter Malia to Mexico. "I would anticipate if I were fortunate enough to become elected president that I'd be spending some time at Camp David, and my family and I would not be jetting around the world and using four years in office to see the world."

Romneytron 5000 requires no recreational activities, but must be docked at his home charging station periodically.

Mitt Romney would like everyone to know he's a gigantic dick. Some more.

"I must admit, I scratch my head at the capacity of the president to take four hours off on such a regular basis to go golfing," Romney told WLW Radio in Cincinnati, responding to a question about the president's hobbies. "I would think you could kind of suck it up for four years particularly when the American people are out of work."

When asked about vacations taken by the Obama family, who travel to the president's native Hawaii annually, Romney said his family would not use four or eight years in the White House to "see the world." Instead, the former Massachusetts governor said he would frequent Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountain Park of Frederick County, Maryland.

"I think one of the great resources that the president enjoys is Camp David," Romney said, after the host referenced a recent trip by Obama's eldest daughter Malia to Mexico. "I would anticipate if I were fortunate enough to become elected president that I'd be spending some time at Camp David, and my family and I would not be jetting around the world and using four years in office to see the world."

Romneytron 5000 requires no recreational activities, but must be docked at his home charging station periodically.

A true Merican man raises a family but works 24/7 without spending time with them. And does it without giving their children emotional deficts.

I've come to the conclusion that many times, conservatives are conservative specifically because they think 'empathy' is a dirty word.

The cornerstone of modern social conservatism is the belief that you and your kind are constantly being attacked by those who wish to destroy your way of life; ergo, as an act of self-preservation, you must actively work to destroy theirs.

in surveys most conservatives believe in helping others but most liberals don't think conservatives have empathy for their fellow man and he used that as evidence of liberals having conservatives all wrong. I say that it's evidence that conservatives don't actually practice what they believe, or they are voting for people who are completely opposed to their own sets of morals without realizing it.

From what I gather from talking to US conservatives online, they have empathy, but it is limited empathy. They can be very kind to people they know, or people who are unfortunate through reasons they understand (eg a conservative with MS in the family will be sympathetic to the struggles of people with MS, but not necessarily other disabilities). But they have pretty much zero empathy for people they don't know in situations they are unfamiliar with.

So if their next-door neighbour is struggling to make ends meet they are very likely to help out, and they often donate to charity. But for the vast mass of "others" out there, they have no sympathy or empathy whatsoever. All "others" are lumped in with the worst of their group. So all single mothers are defrauding welfare, all young black men are up to no good, all foreigners are plotting against the USA, all socialists are trying to introduce communism, all non-Christians seek to persecute Christianity. And so on.

This cognitive dissonance leads to things like "the only moral abortion is my abortion." They assume that most girls get abortions because they sleep around with no thought to the consequences and care for the fact fetuses become babies. But when it happens to them or their daughters, they can list all the reasons why it is the best thing in their case, forgetting that all the other girls in the clinic will have similar stories.

It's psychologically fascinating. A whole political philosophy built on fear of the other.

You may wonder why, say, the Gallup poll has Romney slightly ahead? It’s because its sample of likely voters assumes that nonwhite will make up not just a smaller slice of the electorate than 2008, but even slightly smaller than the off-year election of 2010. It’s common for young and minority voters to stay home during off-year elections. But a whiteout of that magnitude in 2012 seems highly unlikely, given that the nonwhite share of the presidential electorate has been steadily increasing for two decades

And there it is. "Likely voter" models are a key way polls can be manipulated and allows the media to make the race appear closer than it is. That makes the race more exciting but also effects the race itself. IMO that's a pretty big ethical breach.

in surveys most conservatives believe in helping others but most liberals don't think conservatives have empathy for their fellow man and he used that as evidence of liberals having conservatives all wrong. I say that it's evidence that conservatives don't actually practice what they believe, or they are voting for people who are completely opposed to their own sets of morals without realizing it.

From what I gather from talking to US conservatives online, they have empathy, but it is limited empathy. They can be very kind to people they know, or people who are unfortunate through reasons they understand (eg a conservative with MS in the family will be sympathetic to the struggles of people with MS, but not necessarily other disabilities). But they have pretty much zero empathy for people they don't know in situations they are unfamiliar with.

So if their next-door neighbour is struggling to make ends meet they are very likely to help out, and they often donate to charity. But for the vast mass of "others" out there, they have no sympathy or empathy whatsoever. All "others" are lumped in with the worst of their group. So all single mothers are defrauding welfare, all young black men are up to no good, all foreigners are plotting against the USA, all socialists are trying to introduce communism, all non-Christians seek to persecute Christianity. And so on.

This cognitive dissonance leads to things like "the only moral abortion is my abortion." They assume that most girls get abortions because they sleep around with no thought to the consequences and care for the fact fetuses become babies. But when it happens to them or their daughters, they can list all the reasons why it is the best thing in their case, forgetting that all the other girls in the clinic will have similar stories.

It's psychologically fascinating. A whole political philosophy built on fear of the other.

I think money is when they claim they draw the line. Which is unacceptable because money is needed for everything. When money is on the line their empathy comes to an end and starts the "it's mine mine mine fuck you." If they have a family, they use this a shield and say "my money goes to my family (mine mine mine.)" A person can donate three things: time, money and blood. I don't think the people making these kinds of statements give as much as they think they do. I don't think they give anything.

I think money is when they claim they draw the line. Which is unacceptable because money is needed for everything. When money is on the line their empathy comes to an end and starts the "it's mine mine mine fuck you." If they have a family, they use this a shield and say "my money goes to my family (mine mine mine.)" A person can donate three things: time, money and blood. I don't think the people making these kinds of statements give as much as they think they do. I don't think they give anything.

I think money is the excuse they give to make their feelings seem rationally based. But they will consistently disadvantage themselves financially if it means that "the other" won't be getting things they "don't deserve."

I've also seen studies that say that conservatives give more to charity than liberals. Part of this is that religious people tend to be encouraged to give by their churches, and conservatism is linked to religion in the USA. But I do think that part of it is that their empathy is undamaged when concerning people who are not "other" to them. So if their friend died of breast cancer, they will give freely to breast cancer charities because they understand how it feels to lose someone to breast cancer. But they will fight tooth and nail to prevent their money being used to help "the sick" in general, because they think "the sick" in general are "swinging the lead" in order to get free money.